Part of the problem with the spy genre is that everything gets tethered to James Bond, so you end up missing some really good spy work (think more of George Smiley). So we have a spy drama before us that not only plays the cat-and-mouse game, but does it with more going on at the same time and with this many chainsaws being juggled, catastrophe is a mere distracted moment away. Welcome to “Spy X Family.” (more…)

There are a lot of animes out there about making animes and all the trials and tribulations that are required to pull it off. It also acts as a primer as to what is needed to make all this stuff work, but I have rarely encountered one that really looks at the entirety of the process, not just the artistic aspect of it, but the financial considerations as well. This project is pulled off quite well with the marquee-busting title “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!” (“Eizōken ni wa Te o Dasu na!”). (more…)

This has got to be the funniest series I have encountered, owing to a ton of decisions that were made that merely add to the insufferable inanity that is the world of retail. We are at a bookstore, but we are hovering around the manga/light novel/comic books portion of it. Welcome to the world of “Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san” (Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san, “Skeleton Bookstore Employee Honda”). And you are welcome to it! (more…)

I didn’t know what I was getting into when I watched this anime movie. I had seen a couple of series set on an island, one being a group of girls having to survive until help came in, another about a group of people who survive a plane crash, but in another land in another land, and this one started off in the same direction, but when you are greeted with the Japanese title first, then you get blindsided by “Kyochu Retto”, not knowing the English title (“The Island of Giant Insects”), but there you go. (more…)

Every year, an anime comes out that towers over the competition and leaves even strong competitors in the dust. Some previous entries include “Attack on Titan”, “Erased” and “One-Punch Man”. For this season, it falls to “The Promised Neverland” (“Yakusoku no Nebārando”), a series that initially sucks you in with sunshine and light. (more…)